Not a promising return for Drew Pomeranz

Things looked good at first. Drew Pomeranz’s curveball looked sharp in the first and he stuck out two hitters. After a scoreless first, he threw up another zero in the second.

The wheels fell off right after that. Pomeranz’s curve started to hang. His fastball wasn’t coming in any quicker and he couldn’t locate it that well either. Two, two-run home runs later and the Red Sox were down 4-3 with Pomeranz exiting after 4 2/3 innings.

His Tuesday line (4 2/3 innings, four earned runs, six hits, two walks and four strikeouts) was slightly worse than his line in his last start on May 31 before hitting the disabled list (5 innings, six hits, four earned runs, two walks and five hits). That’s a terrible sign given Pomeranz is supposed to be healthy now and had plenty of time to work out whatever mechanical problems he had.

There’s very little chance the Red Sox believed Pomeranz could become the team’s fourth starter with the way Eduardo Rodriguez and Steven Wright were pitching before his their injuries. But they certainly couldn’t have excepted he’d look this bad. To the point where it appears Brian Johnson will be the more reliable option going forward.

If the season ended today Pomeranz wouldn’t make the postseason staff, that’s pretty obvious. What’s more shocking, it doesn’t look like he’d crack the postseason roster.

In the grand scheme of things, the Red Sox will survive without Pomeranz. It’s not that big an issue for the team. But for Pomeranz, this is huge since he becomes a free agent at the end of the season. If this keeps up, there’s a good chance he doesn’t get a contract until mid-2019.

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Blog Author

Nick Friar

Nick Friar is your local Red Sox writer and analyst, featured on WPRI and 1480 WSAR, in addition to covering the team for the Standard-Times. You can find him on Twitter @Nick_Friar. Read Full